Northeast 101

  Tawang Monastery (Credit: Wikipedia) Arunachal Pradesh lies in one of India’s most strategically significant regions. Arunachal Pradesh covers 83,743 square kilometres, making it the largest state in Northeast India. Its mountainous terrain rises above the plains of Assam and curves around the Brahmaputra Valley in a vast arc. It shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Tibet/China in the north and northeast, and Myanmar in the east, while Assam lies to its south. The making of Arunachal is closely linked with the state-making efforts from colonial times onwards.  The Colonial Frontier System The origins of Arunachal Pradesh’s administrative structure lie in British frontier policy around the settled districts of Assam. Large tracts between Assam and the international borders towards Tibet remained unadministered and were controlled through political agents and military expeditions. Through regulations such as the Assam Frontier Tracts Regulation of 1880, t...

Kanchenjunga Mountain in Sikkim. Pic credit: labunhanglimboo on Pixabay Sikkim occupies a unique place in South Asian history as a former Buddhist kingdom that transitioned into the 22nd Indian State in 1975. Ruled for over three centuries by the Namgyal dynasty, Sikkim’s political trajectory was shaped by shifting regional power dynamics among Nepal, Tibet, British India, and, later, independent India. Its strategic location near the sensitive Sino-Indian frontier made it central to India’s security calculations. At the same time, internal political movements demanding democracy and representation transformed its domestic landscape. This blog traces Sikkim’s complex journey from protectorate to statehood, highlighting the interplay of geopolitics, ethnicity, and political change. The Namgyal Dynasty and the British in Sikkim The Namgyal dynasty ruled Sikkim from 1642 until 1975. The kingdom’s political stability was frequently threatened by external invasions, particularly from Ne...

  Image Credit: Nagaland Tribune   On February 5, 2026, the Government of India, the Government of Nagaland, and the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) signed a tripartite agreement to establish the Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority (FNTA). This new body grants financial and administrative autonomy to six eastern districts—Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire, Noklak, and Shamator. The aim is to address decades of uneven development and political neglect without creating a separate state. In essence, the FNTA offers a new layer of autonomy within the existing constitutional framework. The ENPO, which represents seven Naga tribes—the Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Phom, Sangtam, Tikhir, and Yimkhiung—has been leading the demand for greater autonomy since 2010. However, this political issue has a much longer history (discussed below). Eastern Nagaland covers nearly 48 percent of the state’s territory and has a population of around 6–7 lakh people (according to ...

The Great Game and British Frontier System In India and Asian Geopolitics (2021), Veteran diplomat Shiv Shankar Menon argues that British India was conceived as a “sub-imperial” power and entrusted with managing Britain’s relations across Asia. Through the Indian Foreign Department, British India shaped relations with the Gulf, Persia, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, particularly within the strategic rivalry known as the “Great Game.” Central to these geopolitics was an exaggerated fear of Russian expansion toward India’s Northwest frontier. British policymakers believed that Russia’s steady imperial advance would eventually culminate in an invasion of India. This anxiety justified repeated interventions in Afghanistan, guided by the “Forward School” doctrine, which argued that security required pushing British influence beyond India’s borders rather than remaining passive. These interventions proved militarily disastrous, most notably in 1839 and again in 1878. Britain gradually shift...

  The dominant understanding of racism has long been shaped by the Black–White binary rooted in Western histories of slavery, segregation, and colonialism. This framing often confines discussions of racism to Euro-American contexts, making it less effective for understanding how racism operates elsewhere. In India and South Asia more broadly, social hierarchies are produced through locally specific categories such as caste, religion, language, and ethnicity, which also generate racialized forms of difference. Post-independence debates around “race versus caste” further shaped how race was conceptualized in India. In the post-liberalization period, this discussion has shifted again, with scholars increasingly recognizing racism as a contemporary and internal problem, especially visible in the everyday experiences of migrants from the Northeast and Himalayan regions. A common question that follows is: Is race really a relevant category in India? After all, caste, religion, and langu...